Ok so I am officially blogging. It was really only a matter of time I suppose.
SOoooo what to blog about. I guess if you’re here then you’re probably wanting to see what’s been on my plate illustration wise. That said . . .
Here is a Newsweek Cover I just did. It’s the first of 6 attempts to make it to the end. And by 6 attempts I mean 6 different covers that each had 20 or so sketches each. Surprisingly this one was pretty close to the very first version I did.
The story was about the Chinese communist party, how there have been 2 distinct factions forming inside the party and for the first time we are seeing the emergence of these 2 coalitions that are equally powerful in the one political system.
Here are some other sketches. They had an idea of 2 hats so it was pretty clear where to take it but the AD and I decided to explore a bunch of options
Sometimes I like to make a super quick 2 second sketch just to see if the AD is on board with exploring this idea. Earlier in my career I used to get shy about showing really bad sketches and still do to a degree, but if turn around is tight then I try and save time by getting the direction nailed down first. With these quick sketches I generally try and get the overall composition but focus mainly on the idea being clear, or at least having a solid understanding of will happen. Like this one doesn’t exactly show something highly conceptual but it does get across the idea that there will be men wearing the hats.
Which then turned into this
November 1, 2009 at 1:28 am |
Nice work! Thanks for sharing the process. Good luck with the blog…Nov/Dec CA has great article by Wendy Richmond on blogging.
January 18, 2010 at 11:52 am |
I really like the final cover. I can see why you would use multiples for such a subject. We all know that China’s population is huge so in a way, it’s odd that the final piece has only two hats, but paradoxically, having only two still brings to mind the large populus. No need to repeat something we are all already aware of. Clearly, two represents many.
The color choices, space, and use of text is excellent. Good cover.